Histopathological findings in two cases of torsade de pointes with conduction disturbances.

Histological studies were made of the conducting system and the myocardium in two cases of torsade de pointes with complex disturbances of impulse conduction and formation. A fairly similar clinicopathological pattern was seen, consisting of an unusual association of non-interruptive, widespread damage to the conducting system with the intermittent and variable electrocardiographic disorders. The inherent desynchronization of cardiac action and the bilateral, uneven, and partial disruptions of the bundle-branches have been tentatively correlated, pathophysiologically, with the re-entry circuit, or mechanism, which is held to be responsible for the cyclic fluctuation of QRS axis, peculiar to torsade de pointes.